Thursday, December 15, 2022

Bad Brains on the Bowery with Shepard Fairey and Glen E. Friedman

Photos and reporting by Daniel Efram

Five-plus years after debuting the Blondie mural on Bleecker Street, Shepard Fairey, in collaboration with the Lisa Project NYC and Glen E. Friedman (below right), has completed a new mural in tribute to Bad Brains.
The mural, located directly across the street from CBGB at the Bowery and Bleecker, honors the D.C. band that broke new ground during the 1970s and 80s with its hard prototypical reggae-punk. 

Bad Brains also helped pay tribute to the club that championed its unique sounds by performing a trio of goodbye shows in 2006. Additionally, the location is special to Fairey as his first NYC solo art shows took place at the CBGB 313 Gallery, then curated by Jonathan Levine.

Friedman, the acclaimed East Village-based photographer known for his work with cultural icons, skaters and musicians, including some of Fairey's favorite artists, such as Public Enemy and Run-DMC, provided the photographs that Fairey compiled for the large-format piece.

"All of the photos in the collage were made at CBGB during the holidays in 1981 or 1982," Friedman says. "The Bad Brains annual Xmas matinees became a great thing for all us punks who didn't care or didn't have a place to be during the holidays. We'd all go and congregate there and see some of the best shows of our lives."

The mural's location was secured by the Lisa Project, a program dedicated to beautifying the community via mural art. Several members of the public had grown attached to the Blondie mural and wondered why it was being replaced. According to sources on the scene, the wall is supposed to be refreshed every three years but was delayed due to the COVID pandemic.

"After the Bad Brains left Washington, D.C., they moved to New York and were living here on the Lower East Side. They played CBGB a lot. In fact, their music came into its ultimate highest power when they were living and playing here," Fairey tells me about the project's roots in the East Village and Lower East Side community. 

"[They were] a defining band in terms of the sound of hardcore but a unique band in that they were all Black in a white genre," Fairey continues. "It's incredible to have Bad Brains get some love here because they have such a strong connection to NYC and CBGB. They recorded their first album at 171-A in Alphabet City." 

The four-person crew — (from the left) Fairey, Rob Zagula, Praxis and Osk — installed the mural on Monday and Tuesday ...
Here's a look at the elaborate work that took place this past week...
Daniel Efram is an East Village-based photographer-curator. He is the producer of "The Steve Keene Art Book."

23 comments:

  1. The Bad Brains were so kick ass they influenced the whole white "skinhead" music scene. Ater going to Bad Brains shows it was not cool for racist clics to try to recruit younger skins who loved HR and his band.

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  2. Fantastic job! WOW - Let's hope no idiot tags such a great work of art

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  3. So stale, dull and boring. The colors are awful. I would have much preferred a more dynamic artist to do this.

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  4. Looks awesome. Hope it stays untouched unlike so many of the beautiful pieces like this that have been totally tagged over

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  5. saw them at CB's. was (stupidly, for a skinny little kid like me!) right down front. as soon as they hit the opening chord., HR stage dove into the audience and the place exploded. I ended up fighting to get to the back, the moshing was insane. amazing show, good times!

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  6. I'll miss Blondie, but street art is defined by its ephemerality.

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  7. Unfortunate that no one at Lisa Project choices to remember the homophobic and anti-semitic side of Bad Brains.
    '...Lead vocalist and most outspoken member of the band, HR, recently said in an interview, “Yeah, mon, I and I no longer fireburn Biscuit. Biscuit the raging fag is alright with the Brains, mon. Besides, it was shitty weed and we didn’t even get off on it. I and I now must focus on burning Babylon and concentrating on fighting the real enemy: the Jew!”'
    From 2015: https://thehardtimes.net/music/bad-brains-enter-30th-year-of-getting-a-pass-for-homophobia/

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    Replies
    1. The Hard Times is a satire site, Lori.

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    2. Hard Times is satire. That being said, you are everything that's wrong with E. & W. Village & LES now. Sit. Down. You cancel culture fool. Stop trying for virtue points. 🙄🙄🙄

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  8. To Lori -

    What you state is true. It is also important to mention that HR has suffered from mental illness his whole life. This does not excuse nor defend anything, but it puts perspective on this very important part of the story. What's also important is the band's music histor - warts and all.

    You can read more about it here: https://www.ocweekly.com/new-documentary-on-hr-of-bad-brains-sheds-light-on-his-untold-story-7724216/

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  9. One of the world's most recognized street artists puts up a mural of a seminal band with deep roots in our neighborhood.

    EVGrumps: It's the perfect time to complain!

    If this looks stale/dull, it's because the artist is prolific and this is just his style.

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  10. That...is a parody site.

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  11. HardTimes is a parody site, correct.

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  12. @Mr Nice Guy- Yes, flat, lazy, vacuous and boring. Completely antithetical to the punk aesthetic. Sanitized and commodified. Visual opium for the masses who will suck up any slop put in front them and say it tastes good. Quit right. I do not like his style. Is it verboten to have a different opinion? Must I march in lockstep because you, or anyone else, may happen to like it? This like the "bro" version of punk. I like the music of the Bad Brains but there many, many more bands that came before them that are just as deserving of recognition such as Suicide, The Cramps, Plasmatics, Television, Mink de Ville, NY Dolls, Heartbreakers, etc.

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  13. If the artists are gonna dip into the 80’s
    NYC hardcore scene then why not a
    tribute to Reagan Youth. Paul, Andy,
    Dave, and Charlie put together the
    best band from that scene.

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  14. Brains good poor HR he says lots of dumb shit but his heart actually means well one love the deserve some props and bigger fame
    Shep is a hack basically a photoshop filter muralist give this corner the real sizzle and get an actual artist ( maybe even one who was part of the era/scene ) to do something visually interesting

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  15. it's all just marketing and branding - which we can kind of connect to Punk Rock ™ - but I'm tired of being marketed to. plant more trees.

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  16. That's a waste of paint right there. Tone deaf execution too.

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  17. Why do so many gotta HATE on shepard, he was too young to be there in 82, so he shows his respect as he does, i was at those shows, they were fucking awesome, and Bad Brains were light years better than any of the other bands i see mentioned in these comments, from their generation (to compare Reagan Youth who were “ok” and not nearly as popular, and who would not have existed without the inspiration from the Bad Brains is just ridiculous) … and when you go back to that older generation, those bands were innovative but they, not one except the Cramps have the staying power and excitement of the Bad Brains, how can you mention some of those horrible groups in the same breath? Trying to be cool? 🤣 All cred gone when you mention the plasmatics 🤮 … comments from a bunch of poseurs and haters, you all are trying to bad mouth this cool as fuck mural, get a life. Be thankful it’s not an ad for starbucks.

    P.S. we all know the Bad Brains were not angels, but to quote the HARD TIMES a punk satire website, you are terribly mis-guided wannabes.

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  18. Oh, I see. I thought this was an ad for Starbucks Double Espresso Latte, the Bad Brains Power Boost Special.

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  19. I’ll miss Debbie, but it’s so gorgeous!

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